Four Summoner's Tales by Kelley Armstrong, David Liss, Christopher Golden, and Jonathan Maberry

Four terror-inducing novellas from acclaimed bestselling authors Kelley Armstrong, David Liss, Christopher Golden, and Jonathan Maberry beginning with the premise: "A stranger comes to town, offering to raise the townsfolk's dearly departed from the dead - for a price."

In Kelley Armstrong's "Suffer the Children," an acute diphtheria outbreak kills most of the children in an isolated village in nineteen-century Ontario. Then a stranger arrives and offers to bring the children back to life. He wants money, of course, an extravagant sum, but more importantly, but for each child resurrected, one villager must voluntarily offer his life...

In David Liss's "The Good-Natured Man," a con man on the margins of eighteenth-century British society discovers a book that reveals the method for bringing the dead back to life. After considering just how far he would go to avoid bringing his violent father back, he realizes the real value of this book. Instead of getting people to pay him to revive their departed, he will get people to pay him not to...

In "Pipers" by Christopher Golden, the Texas Border Volunteers wage a private war against drug smuggling by Mexican cartels in a modern-day South Texas town, complete with an indestructible army of the risen dead...

In "Alive Day" by Jonathan Maberry, a US Army sergeant must dive into the underworld of modern-day Afghanistan to try and barter for the release of his team, never dreaming of the horrors that await him...

That's the official book flap summary. Here's my two cents: Christopher Golden's story Pipers is going to tear at your heart and soul. It will haunt you like a Shirley Jackson tale and hit you close to home if you've ever lost a loved one. Think of The Monkey's Paw. What would you do in that situation? What would I do? I don't even want to think about it....and now my flute is giving me the side-eye...

I love the fact that these four very different stories were all based on the same prompt. Which of the four tales is your favorite? Let me know in the comments below!